Australasian Dirt Bike Magazine Issue 520

THE MONTHS OF October and especially November are the most exciting as a dirtbike journo. Its fun reporting all year on new bikes, race reports and industry bits but there's nothing more tantalising than off-season signings. I still remember when Chad Reed announced he was starting his own team or when Eli Tomac made the switch to Yamaha but none have hammed it up like German rider Ken Roczen. By our count, the German rider has released social media footage of him riding four very different bikes on three different continents. First, there was the Genuine Honda machine he rode to a maiden FIM World Supercross title. Then he was spotted spinning laps on the all-new 2023 Yamaha YZ450F (featured in this issue on p26). Next he shocked the world by…

THE 2022 WORLD Supercross Championship has been run and won over a short two-round series that formed what has been labelled as the pilot season for WSX. While two rounds does seem a tad short for a Championship of this status, it is what was and the second and final round right here in Melbourne, Australia appeared to hit all of the right notes. Marvel Stadium was transformed into a supercross track of a very high standard and the action got underway on Friday night with the opening round of the 2022 Australian Supercross Championship. Crowd numbers were relatively low but the action was hot. And when World Supercross Championship contender, Ken Roczen hit the track for some exhibition laps the crowd went nuts in anticipation for what Ken would possibly…

THE 2022 FORCE Accessories Wildwood Rock Extreme dished up punishing conditions that proved just the right recipe for Wade “The Bull” Ibrahim to shine. Ibrahim claimed the 12th Wildwood Rock Extreme from a bunch of fast and hard-charging Aussie riders on a course that was arguably the toughest one yet Wildwood Rock Extreme owner and creator, Steve Braszell explains. “Leading up to the event we had so much rain. We had anywhere between 50mm to 100m of rain each week going into the ground but three days before the race the sun came out and everything dried enough that we could mark out the course and offer some parking in the paddock. We shortened the track from around 12km to 9km this year but almost doubled the lap times from around…

GASGAS FACTORY RACING'S Sam Sunderland has capped off an incredibly successful racing season by winning the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship. The British rider claimed the 2022 Dakar Rally back in January and backed that up with victory in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge which set him up with the Championship points’ lead that ultimately carried him to the overall win after the Ralley du Maroc and the Andalucia Rally. Sunderland is consider the red-hot favourite coming into the 2023 Dakar Rally.…

THE AUTOMOBILE & MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION of Australia continues with their suspended activity after failing to secure an insurance provider. Further to our news report on this matter last issue, AMA released another statement with details on possible membership refunds. The statement went on to say, “we sincerely regret the current turn of events, we have worked tirelessly to build the AMA to what it was and to turn the current situation around, but there is now only one solution and that is to restructure and form our own self insurance company. We hope you will be a part of the new and improved version of the AMA in the very near future.” There is more to come on this matter. Stay tuned as we investigate further.…

KEN ROCZEN HAS continued with his “off-season” racing schedule and claimed the famous King Of Bercy crown at the Paris Supercross with a clean sweep on the second night of racing. Roczen topped Eli Tomac and Justin Brayton with Cooper Webb and Marvin Musquin making up the top five. The big news for us Aussie fans was Matt Moss winning the Prince of Bercy title on the Bid Racing Kawasaki KX250F. Mossy produced an amazing clean sweep himself on Sunday and was emphatic in victory with Jase Owen and Chris Blose rounding out the 250cc class podium. This was a huge win for Mossy on a very big stage.…